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innovation DAILY

Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis.  These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.

Business Office Work Workspace Team

There are many things – aspects, virtues, expectations, goals – that define an entrepreneur. But there’s hardly a concise list that puts into context aspects that should not define an entrepreneur. In this article, we’ll explore and expand upon nine such facets. Money

An entrepreneur should not be defined by his or her bank balance. Presence or lack of money has come to dominate the psyche of every individual. An entrepreneur is a carrier of a dream, a vision. He or she often carries a solution within them that can help bring about vital transformations in a world that’s unfit to live in, in its present state. A bold, iconoclastic, and pure vision is beyond the value that any amount of paper or plastic can attribute to it.

 

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copy

I know what you’re thinking. “Copy my competitors? Isn’t that unethical? Isn’t that illegal? I’m not doing that!” But wait—hear me out. I’m not telling you to cleverly steal their marketing plan and duplicate their strategies. I’m not asking you to plagiarize anything. What I’m asking you do is simple.

Look around your industry. Watch what’s going on. Study your competition. Follow what works. Why wouldn’t you? Your competitors are selling their wares to the same target market you are.

 

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NewImage

When it comes to our smartphones, we seem to be more addicted than ever. 

Even as the tech industry is trying to figure out what a post-smartphone world will look like, smartphone users are spending more and more time with their handsets. Indeed, in various countries around the world, smartphone users last year spent at least an hour a day, on average, glued to their devices — and often much longer, according to research from Statista. In Brazil, the average hit nearly five hours!

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

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Tel Aviv

Israel continues to produce an impressive number of highly successful tech companies for a country with a population of just 9 million people. 

The Middle Eastern country is sometimes referred to as "Startup Nation" thanks to the sheer number of entrepreneurs building businesses there, particularly in cities like Tel Aviv. 

 

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Ihouset's a choice many home buyers face (from those buying their first home to those with saving for retirement in mind): the best location vs. the most space. Now, recent data from real estate website Zillow shows just how much space you'd be able to afford if you took your budget to a different city. Take Washington, D.C., where the median one-bedroom home costs $387,400. For that price, you could get a four-bedroom home in Nashville, Tenn. or Raleigh, N.C., according to Zillow.

 

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future

With the growth of technology and new ways of working, innovation is playing a huge role in the workplace. The most successful organizations are those that can prep for the future and push the envelope creatively to find the next innovative idea. But what if how we have been thinking about innovation is all wrong? Open innovation is a newer idea that is spreading across industries and changing how companies work together and plan for the future.

 

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paint

The contemporary business world lauds those who are seen as creative. Innovators such as Elon Musk and Jony Ive have become household names. Yet, for many of us, despite our best efforts to be recognized as creative thinkers, our suggestions in meetings are ignored and our pitches to bosses get rebuffed.

If your colleagues have already formed an opinion of you as technically competent but a little staid, it’s going to take a lot to change their minds and get them to listen — a situation that’s especially true for women, who, research suggests, are often unfairly viewed as less creative than men.

 

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money

OTTAWA—The Trudeau government is opening the competition for its $950-million “supercluster” program that aims to bring together industry and academia as a way to lift the innovation economy.

Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains announced the deadline details and qualifying criteria Wednesday for a five-year initiative central to the feds’ innovation program.

 

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laptop

How many times have you wished for a shorter workday? Late Sunday night, you might think to yourself how much easier Monday would seem if it were a few hours shorter. The same thought might occur on Monday at 2:30 p.m., when you're feeling exhausted and ready to call it a day.

 

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teacher

Every conversation about education in the U.S. takes place in a minefield. Unless you’re a billionaire who bought the job of Secretary of Education, you’d better be prepared to answer questions about racial and economic equity, disability issues, protections for LGBTQ students, teacher pay and unions, religious charter schools, and many other pressing concerns. These issues are not mutually exclusive, nor are they distinct from questions of curriculum, testing, or achievement. The terrain is littered with possible explosive conflicts between educators, parents, administrators, legislators, activists, and profiteers.

 

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city

Much of the U.S. media tends to see smaller cities as backwaters, inevitably left behind as the “best and brightest” head to the country’s mega-regions. The new economy, insists the Washington Post, favors large cities for start-ups and new businesses. Richard Florida has posited the emergence of a “winner take all urbanism” that tends to favor the richest cities, such as New York and San Francisco.

 

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speech

There’s no bigger pep talk than a college commencement speech. Someone who has achieved an admirable level of success takes the stage to give advice to those just starting their journey. This year, several speakers took the opportunity to get political, but there were also nonpartisan gems of wisdom that those of us without a brand-new diploma can appreciate.

 

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question

Ninety percent of businesses in the United States are family owned. Some of the biggest brands in America were family founded and are controlled by a family.

Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway are two of the largest examples.

While family-run businesses can be close-knit, friendly, successful and inspiring, they are not without their challenges. One challenge of family leadership is becoming stuck in the same old ways of doing things (because of family pressure) even when the company is growing.

 

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brain

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus – countless books, TV shows and films have run off of that idea, but there is truth when it comes to the physiological differences between the male and female brain. In general terms, there are things women do better (multitask, understand situations, empathy) and things men do better (focus, analyze, deliver solutions). These aren’t just stereotypes, they relate to the way the human brain is built – and when it comes to business in 2017, this natural difference may be the key to purpose-driven innovation in established industries. Understanding how to leverage both typically male and female behaviors will be the path to modern leadership norms and success in a tech-led world.

 

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NewImage

Britain’s biotech sector boasts the strongest new drug pipeline in Europe but industry leaders say it needs continued access to global talent, funding and regulatory clarity to thrive in the future – all of which could be jeopardised by Brexit.

A new report yesterday (22 May) showed the United Kingdom was well ahead of rivals like Germany, France and Switzerland in terms of the number of experimental drugs in clinical development at early-stage biotech firms.

Image: Biotech-produced drugs are becoming more and more popular. (Brainco Social Media/Flickr)

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grow

(EDMONTON May 24, 2017) Fourteen regional municipalities have voted to create a new organization to promote the Edmonton Metropolitan Region to the world.

Each member of the Capital Region Board had the opportunity to decide to become a shareholder in the new entity. The City of Leduc was first to indicate its participation May 11, joined quickly by Strathcona County, Parkland County and Bon Accord.

Ten other members have voted to become shareholders in the new entity since, most at council meetings this week: Beaumont, Devon, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc County, Morinville, Spruce Grove, St. Albert, Stony Plain, and Sturgeon County. Gibbons will vote tonight.

 

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Branson_March_2015_(cropped).jpg

There are at least five ways an entrepreneur can be seen as important -- not just significant, not just noteworthy, not just successful -- but genuinely important.

He, or in each case she, can enjoy tremendous commercial success; his products or services must not just be widely adopted, they must also make money.

His company's products and services -- and the company itself -- can enjoy popular and critical acclaim. He can change an industry; not just "disrupt" (whatever that means) a model, but fundamentally change how other companies operate.

 

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books

If you’re just starting out, the business world can be a maelstrom of confusion. This is especially true if you’re looking for advice.

It seems like everybody is shouting for attention, and you have to sift through all the so-called gurus (or even worse, “ninjas”) peddling their latest lame ebook. This stuff is rarely helpful, and it often exists just to make money for self-professed experts. In a nutshell, we’re inundated with junk, and it can be hard at first to tell the difference between hard-won knowledge and half-baked horseplay.

 

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patent

Right now, the patent lobby—in the form of the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association—is demanding “stronger” patent laws. They want to undo Alice v. CLS Bank and return us to a world where “do it on a computer” ideas are eligible for a patent. This would help lawyers file more patent applications and patent litigation. But there’s no evidence that such laws would benefit the public or innovation at all.

 

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Workplace Team Business Meeting Business People

Just as new technologies have disrupted the enterprise and created the roles of Chief Technology and Chief Information Officer, the C-suite is poised for continued expansion this year with the rise of the Chief Innovation Officer.

Companies such as IBM and Fujitsu are already leading the charge with innovation roles dedicated to bringing new ideas to life and changing the way people work, create, and communicate. These will be the adoptive leaders of new technologies and processes, enhancing innovation with internal, and external, teams and partners.

 

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